VIP escort vehicles leave Punjab poorer by Rs 2.5 crore annually

Charanjit Bhullar

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 18

Escorting “VVIPs” in Punjab in pilot vehicles is leaving the state poorer by Rs 2.5 crore every year. Each escort and pilot vehicle is a fuel guzzler: consuming about 200 litres of diesel every month. Plus, the repair and maintenance of these 115 vehicles is a big burden on the state coffers.

The information procured under the RTI Act has revealed that 55 pilot vehicles move along DCs, SSPs, DIGs and IGs in Punjab to escort these officers. The average annual fuel consumption of these vehicles cost the state Rs 1.65 crore, besides the expenses on repair and maintenance of these vehicles.

In a big district, these pilot and escort vehicles consume fuel of over Rs 20 lakh a year, whereas in smaller ones the average annual expenses are around Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh.

The expenses being incurred on pilot vehicles attached with ministers and chief parliamentary secretaries are separate. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s native district Muktsar has three pilot Gypsies. Besides, two pilot vehicles run with the DC and the SSP.

In 2014, the fuel expenses of these five vehicles came out to be Rs 44.8 lakh — i.e. Rs 75,000 on every vehicle in a month. In 2007, this expense was Rs 7.73 lakh in Muktsar and after Akalis got power in 2012, this bill expanded to Rs 20.77 lakh. In 2013, the fuel expenses on escort vehicles further rose to 26.56 lakh.

During the Akalis regime in Punjab, in the past eight years, more than Rs 1.5 crore has been spent on fuel for pilot and escort vehicles in Muktsar. In Bathinda, another VIP area of the state, there are two reserve vehicles for visiting VIPs and one each for the DC and the SSP. In 2014, Rs 12.79 lakh was spent on the fuel of these vehicles. In the past eight years, Rs 86.26 lakh was spent to keep these escort vehicles running.

As per the entries marked by drivers in the official log books of these vehicles, the average mileage of these vehicles is 8 to 9 km per litre.

In Faridkot, Rs 35.36 lakh was spent on a pilot vehicle attached with the SSP and one reserve vehicle for a VIP in the past eight years. The expenses incurred on pilot vehicle attached with the DC are separate. In Moga, Rs 44.95 lakh was spent on pilot vehicles from 2007 to 2015, whereas the expenses on pilot vehicle with the DC were separate.

The border district of Amritsar, which faces the biggest rush of dignitaries, has seven escort vehicles and yearly Rs 12.6 lakh is spent on these. If pilot vehicles attached with the DC and the SSP are included, the expenses reach Rs 18 lakh.

The dignitaries going to Amritsar or Vaishno Devi pass through Jalandhar. Jalandhar has five pilot and escort vehicles which consumes diesel worth Rs 18 to Rs 20 lakh every year.

Apart from vehicles attached with the DC and the SSP, other escort vehicles consume Rs 7 lakh. Patiala district has only one pilot vehicle to escort dignitaries and in case of any emergency the SHOs arrange more vehicles as per need. Here Rs 12 lakh is spent per year on running the pilot vehicles. The state government has also provided pilot and escort vehicles to high-ranking officials.